Even the young have wisdom.
Watch how  the cold search for warm.
See the helpless seek shelter
Bright eyes like newborn sun.
Even the hopeless, relentless
Dare to dream, though they fade.
Tears swell to great rivers and oceans
Where wounds and scars are laid.
Pain is not like a fever
Rising and falling with time.
Hearts don't break like fine china
Dangerous, jagged straight lines.
To one a season is needful.
To another the same is pure joy.
One struggles, surrenders to valleys
Strength no lie will destroy.
Don't tell the girl she can't hide
Or talk of Angel Wings at her birth.
Don't play her music you've written.
Help her thrive in your shelter long hidden.

***********************************************

Ever the young have their wisdom;
See how the cold seek the warm?
Watch as the helpless find shelter
Away from a gathering storm.

Even the hopeless are thinking,
Daring to dream, though they fade.
Swells of great rivers may wash the
graves that gilded hands have laid;

But pain is not proper fever,
Rising and falling with time,
Nor do hearts breaking like china
Ever break along straight lines.

To one a mountain is needful,
To someone else it is joy.
We struggle to glean from valleys
A strength no lie can destroy.

Do not tell the girl she must hide
Her Angel Wings at birth.
She plays a music in her mind
Replacing censure with worth.

All of the ones are now undone:
they've all been turned to twos.
All by myself, I can't stand ones,
or children with no shoes.

Not all the shoes were left by me
though those I did were many.
Of empties, though, there should not be
even more than one, if any.

this room


on lonely nights
a crowd's nearby
silence is in this room

on sunny days
clouds pass this way
shadows wear gloom

in the calm of storm
even air is warm

all is safe and still
waits on a passing chill
drifting through this room

what would you say
if she told you today
she heard gentle words
chase the silence away

would she be right
if she told you tonight
she watched the bright
shift the shadows light

will you think it wise
hearing moans and sighs
from a fire rise

but cold is what she finds
she's a forlorn child
maimed and mesmerized
staring with lonely eyes
where sorrow lies

living in yesterdays
searching for a face

fancies instead a mask
but she's afraid to ask

which one to wear
she really doesn't care

to hear you say
she lost her way
in this room

the first time

Solitary Flame

There is a fire.
I see you .. solitary and centered.

Surrounding me with warmth
You have none. I reach for you.
To kindle a flame.
To light for you a candle.
Your face I can't see ....
You turn away from me.

Fear is in the fire. I will help you see.
Take your hand. Lead you through
When you willing allow me to.

No stranger to me is the fire, but familiar.
Did you think? Were you aware?
What time did you take?
Your trust is hidden there.
One such as me should be weak, you believe.
Must needs be what you think you see.

Shallow breath and weightless.
Gentle bud with fragile limbs.
A seedling can't know where courage ends.

Tender leaves, wind-blown.
Thorns of sorrow each petal knows.
Buried roots, safely below ... the rose grows.

Crimson-scorched am I
When your face from me you turn.
Yet I sit among fire never burned.


Flesh and bone will bear this heat,
From spark, to ember, to flame, a fire.
My heart is holy, scattered dark and deep.
Solace beckons .. the stairway steep.
No fire will destroy me.

Single ring of fire able to scorch me
Though your trust you must keep.
Solitary Flame for you I reach.

Be kind
to those
you know
who's
daily-mantra-replay
is
"my life is hell".
Because,
dear friend,
if you have not lived it,
if you have not been there,
please listen
when I say
"hell on earth"
is not
a mere cliche.

Find me in your fallow'd forge
Surround me in your shallow shore
Walk me through your open door
Break me till I cry for more
Make the ache weaken
and scatter my call
So shall the air shatter it all
Drown me till I care no more.

I tried to paint my world
but I didn't know
how to use a brush
or acrylics
or oils
or water
with beautiful color.

My hands were heavy.
My fingers were frozen.
I couldn't draw
a straight line
or shade
the curve of a circle.

Stick figures
of rowdy children
with bug eyes
poked fun
at my visual contortions.

Whispers fell from the page
into my world
like drippy voices:
"you're hopeless".

When the whispers
turned to shouting
and the dripping
turned to leaping
I had no choice
but to walk far away
from the stick figures
and the swirling circles.

I walked
until I lost myself
and tore away the ropes
from the way
things should be.

There was life,
the way it is.

Knots and cords
and slings
are machines
but I'm human
with lines, unsophisticated
and curves, not comprehensive
but all of them are me--
the way my art should be.

I once knew a man who lived by chance.
No, not your usual impractical dance.
All it took was the sun to encourage him.
A tender bush or weed he'd love to trim .

He seldom knew of sensitive nods
(Innocent peaks at his rambling rod -
Desiring to see what everyone knew).
If only they knew what he could do!
Cloud a faithful lover's eye with tears
Or laugh at the shock of ignorant ears.

He longed to dance and so he did.
He longed to be the authentic "him".
He longed to comfort hurt and shame
Mixing and measuring name by name.
Giving solace to both vain and slain
His generous breast absorbing the pain
The timid, shy, the fearful and insane.

Many things such a man may deny
But never temptation; his only lie.
He claimed his golden pot was real.
Of it's wholeness his desire to feel
Never revealing the truths concealed.

"I'm ok", he was known to say,
"I'll prove to you I'm really this way".
Planning and plotting his run-away
Not knowing he would forever wait
Mapping his route and never escape.

... Never Misled


It's true
she's a beauty in red
Her dress bunched up
all around her in a heap
still young and lovely

A little weary of this
I sigh and turn my head
nonchalantly
so matter of factly
such an apathetic stare

I'm just me
an empty bed
waiting for the dead

Or maybe I'm lonely
looking for a mere tiny space
a pleasant place
to lay this pounding head

So forgiving am I
so forlorn

I give up
Darkness fails me again
another sleep-search
I'm on the rise
Seems like I'm always roaming
chasing a shelter of wood
a square box called home

Gentle, kind ripples
rush swiftly by me
soft and giving
But like time
won't slow down
when I've lost my way

If only I could
I would come to you

Even though math
carefully calculated
science with her formulas
even though old wives tales
say I shouldn't
I would anyway

Calculations keep correcting
over and over again
Formulas continue
weaving perfection
tight as a drum-skin

But there will only be
one you one me one we

I watch you beckon
the young beauty in red
knowing she will turn her head
and walk away from you
just as she said

But me ... I was never misled.

Quietly In The Background


"Nowhere and everywhere", you said,
upon my first meeting with you.
I dared to ask where,
from what direction you entered
this tiny closet of a world -
my life, with an old wooden door,
swelling and shrinking each time
the weather changes.

"There is a place where no man can go,
save one," you tenderly revealed.
"There is an ache no man can heal
save one, and if it be me for you,
I will walk in you, like the wind
blowing through; you will never
wonder if the breeze you feel is me."

I am comforted knowing
you earnestly desire I ask much of you.
In return you are free to give more.
I have come to know you intimately.
It is a gift, and I am pleasured.
I revel in the man you are,
and I relish in the telling.

You are a mixture of story and invention,
as genuine as the stone under my feet.
Your plans, I cannot comprehend.
You are outrageous, stirring in me
the most extreme adventures.

I do not know your genius.
Boasting does not become you.
I wonder; would you even know how?
You hide your talent from me.
Neither are you a lover of intrigue.

You test my inventions
yet I am not your experiment.
Here in this place with you
fantasy will not linger long
though in your eyes, ecstasy lives.

You make color out of my flesh.
You draw sound from my bone.
You do not tarry.
Instead you carry the weak
and break the strong.

You know all tongues
not ignoring the slightest cry
or berating the beating
of a thousand drums ...
in my hands.

An encounter with you dazzles me,
a reverberation of all my senses.
You taste of the euphoric -
an orchestration; an aphrodisiac
for the palate of any soul.
You seek only to play your music
throughout my heart ...
quietly in the background.

So I will not look for you in high places,
in cool streams or mountain-tops.

Only in difficulty will I find you.

This one truth I know:
if I avoid you, you will find me.

You touch. You hear.
You see. You are real.
You are simplicity
and you love me.

I have a friend named Thomas.
Calling him friend - quite a stretch.
I dare not be assumptive.
Thomas - he will know.

We are creations, kingdom seekers
By a silken thread we are looped
Unashamed of our talent.
He will know this too.

He is no better than me; I no better than he
Should he choose another man to be
Or different castles in which to dwell.

Of the young I know this well.

I have a secret to tell.
Crossing treacherous watery moats
Dare I speak the unspoken
No breaking of the broken, shall I
My tears a token.

Thomas writes; my heart longs to smile
Sings a tiny tune; and all the while,
I ache remembering the delight of a son
A light; living on the side of another moon.

More than life I love this one, my son
Undone by care, I'm sure he never knows
A world beguiling concerns him so
Is the very reason I will never let him go
Not by vapor, not by shadow.

Sir Thomas spins words of gold.
No matter he thinks
No matter what he's said.
I will never turn my head.

He is not a boy.
He is a joy.

Honestly kind friends,
I stifled a laugh when he said to me
"You may have whatever you desire, my sweet".

O my dear men, who listen to me
make sure of your offer, if offering to me.
I will be kind, though secrets they be.
I would ask these questions, if it were just me.

When you look at me and see my beauty
do you look only with desire to have me,
or with curiosity?

Have you watched me closely
my flesh so fair, sparkling in the sunlight?
Have you gazed at me with such intent
that I appear to be in movement
though with you I am still?

Has the shine in my hair so fresh
an amber glow warming seem
you could taste the scent of it,
yet never touch me?

When you make love to me, what do you see?
Searching each limb,
do you see me as a mystery?
If I feel awkward will you comfort these
orgasmic contortions of my body
as my back arches toward you; this primal plea?

Do you hear a loveliness in my voice as I moan
knowing I desire you to come closer,
to be near the beating of a heart so restless
wanting more, never having enough?

Do you feel my ecstasy when I grimace
at the thin line of pain and pleasure
only you can bring me to?

Will you balance a pain so hidden and deep
with a pleasure so vibrant any minute
the Universe will open for me?

When my body is at rest, my face peaceful,
will you stay? Will you rest beside me?

Have you ever felt so utterly at one with me
you couldn't distinguish or separate you from me,
at rest by your side, even in beauty,
though she sleeps?

When you look at me, for just one moment
will you see the light in my eyes,
and the tenderness in my body?

Are you awestruck,
amazed by what only you see?
Are you in complete wonder at the how,
at the why, at the curiosity?

Whatever I desire I may have, he said to me.
Only when he gives me these things
sated I will be.

Bewitched By A Lullaby


Who has bewitched You, My Friend?
Your mask is darkened and seared.
Your brow deep furrows haunt.
Light of hope has left Your eyes.
A mind dull and dreary with fear.

Yes, I am this Burn You speak of!
How fiery My scorching flame!
Your steamy Torch once Your pride.
Now concealed His prowess You hide.

A dam of lust has broken
Steamy and out of control.
You endlessly ache of desire
A prison You cannot escape
Tightly locked is always this way.

Much time passed, You speak?
Hungrily You reach to touch
Grasping for fullness and depth
Vast and heated hot flesh
Slick, firm ... waiting for Me.

Picture Me now in Your mind
One who beguiles You with tyme.
Like the coil of a snake I unwind
Wrapping, draping, tempting, taking
All of You coming inside.

Writhing, unsettled and longing
The core of My passion You ride
In desperation an ache I quake
Red, gold churns, Garden's snake
A flame You don't know?
You can't think. "Come,
"Come, together Let's drink",
Sighing softly as death I sing.

Your senses have loosened.
Your body is free, fire consumed
You are blind never to see.
All of Me I offer freely.
My sweet ripe flesh You need.
No mouth or tongue will redeem.

I invoke You, I whisper Your name,
"Reveal how You feel;
"Burn, burn slick Steel."
My breasts flash forgiveness,
My body Your witness.
"Will You burn, burn only for Me?"
I cry this betrayal My tears.

Your male Member hardens like sin.
Your Flame shines brightly of lust.
Are You feeling, floating destruction
As though with one stroke
Finished, spent You would be?

Fire in Your groin, a Furious Flame
Surely at last I must douse
You enter Me deep and sweet
Familiar and priceless to keep.

Let Me hear the sound of Your voice.
Describe to Me just how You feel.
I listen, folds shiny and glistening
Embed Your Rod, hard and eager
A Rock amid tender new flesh.
I engrave Myself deeply in You.

Hear my song of passion and lust,
"Tell Me, do You burn?
"Pray feed Me, burial-burn".
Replenished yet never will finish.

I'm comforted now with Your raging
Ravaging rod, You plunge Me like steel
I'll keep You hidden and deep.

I sing such tender love-lies.
My lust complete satisfies.
Melody lilting, lifting such sighs
"Burn with Me, burn with Me now.
"I'll come for You, I'll gladly show how.
"Burn with Me, burn with Me ...
"Come with Me, come with Me".

You I've bewitched with My lust
Midst a ring, a circle of fire,
... singing My sweet lullaby.

she dances


little one
so small
she hears music
bereft of beauty, she cries
and she dances.

her body responds
in odd ways, gracious
circles and turns
whips and whirls
as she dances.

each hand an instrument
her arms a courier
of worship; she worships
the One who hears her cry
and she dances.

her feet expressions of praise
she flies; Pegasus-winged
freely she glides on milky clouds
of yester-years; sorrow's tears
and she dances.

gifts now bestowed
among hearts of all men
she is gifted; hear her song
watch her worship
take view this glory
...
as she dances.

We Walk Among Wood


Be my shroud
my piece of humanity
cover me when I am exposed
disclose me with your hands
illusory and distant
wrap yourself around me
with your muscle and tendon
ease this knot of lust hard for you
bound by your steamy flesh.

In reconciliation
we are ancient,
bone and marrow
from the birth of man
always hungry, never full
forever lost, we can't find
the you
and the me
we were at our birth.

Amidst a circle of fear
we meet in the center
of our beginning,
our Alpha
renews us
Gilead's balm at every touch.

An end that should be,
but never is,
our Omega
lives in moments of time
with no distance
between a man and a woman
bursting with flames, warmed with life,
fire melts ice, and once again ...

beyond a third dimension
we build mountains
from grains of sand
we walk among wood,
plant trees of oak,
forests of maple
with seeds too small to see
yet each a progeny.

From ashes and dust we are birthed
tossed and flung through the atmosphere
never touching the earth.